In Ebou Dar, we see the fighting continued from aCoS, with the Seanchan
winning. We relive Mat's last moments of aCoS, then this:
"What's the bloody hold up?" he said when the
wall didn't crash down on him. He looked up again. It had stopped
moving. "Whew! 'Bout bloody time my luck worked
for me!" He took a step to look for Olver in the stable
across the street, torn up as it was with the channeling
of the damane. The wall lurched, and finally came crashing
down. "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" he screamed as he re- raised his
arms.
The ground shook with the impact. Fissures formed
in the hard-packed earth. Mat opened his eyes and looked
around himself. The remains of the wall were spread on
the street, but around is feet there was a rectangle of
cleared street. "Fell through the bloody window!" Mat
exclaimed. Looking up to the second floor of the building
with the missing wall, he found a woman, frozen halfway
` into the act of buttoning up her dress, with the typical
Ebou Dari fashion of a high neckline and an oval cut out
to show some excellent pale bosom. "You didn't happen to
see a short little ugly boy in a red coat around here did
you?" he asked. Gaping mouthed, the woman pointed in the direction
Mat was headed. He nodded his thanks, pausing
for a second to notice the woman's half-nakedness. "Bloody
fine time for that," he muttered under his breath as he
ran on...
And ran right into a Seanchan patrol. The dice in
his head restarted as he knocked over one of the patrolmen.
When he began to stand up, he found razor-sharp spears
hard against his neck as his own was stripped from him.
"Blood and ashes! Blood and flaming bloody ashes," he
cursed and winced as the spear blades pushed even harder.
The Seanchan are chasing the girls thru Ebou Dar, and Birgitte finds
Olver. Believing that Mat can take care of himself and that he would
want them safe at all costs, El decides to take everyone up to Andor
thinking, "Egwene will be there by the time we are anyway."
Meanwhile, Perrin and his group are making their way to the Prophet.
Everyday, the tension rises between Berelain, Faile, and Perrin. Also
each day, Berelain wears lower and lower necklines and more clinging
clothes, so much so that the Two Rivers men clear their throats whenever
she is near. Sexually frustrated, Berelain has MPS with Aram. Faile has
MPS with Perrin in order to insure his faithfulness, constantly calling
herself a Saldean farmgirl. The group finds the Prophet and convince him
to come back to Rand. Just then, the Seanchan bear down on the prophet's
forces, and Mesaema takes an arrow in the back. The Asha'man cut a hole
thru the Seanchan for Perrin's group, but Berelain is captured. Aram
tries to go back and get her, but Perrin forces him to give up. The
Asha'man make a gateway Caemlyn, their mission having been made
impossible to complete.
Berelain tells the Seanchan that she is the First of Mayene, and thereby
related to Hawkwing. Apparently, there are prophecies for the DoTNM, for
the Seanchan exclaim "The Daughter of the Nine Moons!" and then cart her
off to the High Lord in Ebou Dar. During the trip, Berelain tries to
escape, then finding out that the DoTNM is a person of power, asks to
leave. Her guard however always reply, "The Daughter of the Nine Moons
may of course do as she wishes, but why should she want to leave?" Then
they turn away as if that settled it.
Egwene makes her way up to Caemlyn, and when she gets there, drops in on
Rand, who's there to talk with Rhuarc on matters of state. The Maidens
tell him that there are 13 Aes Sedai in the halls and he freaks out. He
makes himself and Min invisible. 12 AS walk in and fan out. Rand readies
flows for shielding and steels himself. Egwene walks in, wearing the
Stole. Min runs out of hiding and gives her a hug. Taim travels to the
throne room and tries to shield the AS. Rand, thinking he's going to
kill Eg, steps out of hiding and, in his madness/fervor, attacks Taim in
such a way that he doesn't die instantly. The AS shield Taim though,
thinking he's a threat. Rand asks the AS to heal Taim, but they are not
strong enough. In the last throws of death, Taim whispers "You win
again, Lews Therin." and collaspes. Taim's face changes. The eyes
detilt. Inside Rand's head Lews Therin goes wild. "Why did it have to be
this way (Demandred's real name here)?" he sobs, "Why?"
Back in Ebou Dar, Mat is trapped in the dungeon after trying to escape
the Seanchan and killing the High Lord's son. He is carted out in chains
and the High Lord whips him "For the Blood." This time, however,
Berelain is there effectively a prisoner. Seeing Mat, she says "I wish
to see this worm alone." The throne room clears out, and Berelain
explains the situation. She picks the locks on Mat and gives him some
decent clothes which just happen to be his. He breaks into the High
Lord's treasure room and takes back his spear and foxhead ter'angreal
which the High Lord has taken for his own. The two run for the docks,
where Mat sees a familar ship. As they climb onto the Spray, they run
into Bayle Domon, who lowers a heavy quarterstaff that was poised to
bash in their heads. Domon had been captured by the Seanchan as well,
and was trying to escape unnoticed to the Sea of Storms. Mat convinces
him to head for Illian, where Mat plans to catch a boat to Whitebridge.
As they leave, a damane-powered ship tails them, trying to stop them.
Attaching his Ter'angreal to the mast of the Spray, Mat goes with
Berelain below deck. Aye, there is much having of MPS that night.
Perrin tries to explain to Rand what happened to the Prophet, and is so
grief stricken by Berelain's capture that he had to leave Rand's
anteroom. This drives a wedge even further between him and Faile. The
whole of Perrin's group leaves the anteroom except for Aram, who is
talking with Egwene about his family and the tinkers. Looking over his
map, Rand begins thinking about the Seanchan, absently humming.
Strangly, Lews Therin hums along too. Rand has no recolection of where
he heard the tune, but remembers it still, like a memory long forgotten.
Aram stops talking abruptly, listening. His Heart sings. He joins in.
Aram has refound the Song. Aram rides out of the city on a rumor of a
band of Tinkers outside the city.
Elayne, Ny, Avi, and the rest finally arrive in Caemlyn. Elayne is
finally crowned, and Rand and she have MPS as part of the, er,
corination celebrations. Avi finally meets Min, and get to know each
other well. Morgase arrives directly after the Corination, and becomes
Elayne's advisor. The SAS and the Asha'man all bond together and
activate the Bowl of the Winds.
The end of the book goes:
The End